


Family Reunion

by SometimesRaven



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Childhood Trauma, Denial of Feelings, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Family Issues, Family Reunions, Father-Daughter Relationship, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Major Original Character(s), Physical Abuse, Slavery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-24 09:32:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8367244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SometimesRaven/pseuds/SometimesRaven
Summary: When the TARDIS sends him to the ship of a slaver, The Doctor isn't remotely prepared for what -- or rather, who -- he finds there. He knows he has to save her; even with the secrets he keeps from her.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> aaaah origin stories are hard XD I hope this is any good?? i'll try to update semi-regularly and comments and stuff are encouraged owo 
> 
> also i hope the rating is right??? i couldn't figure if it should be teen or mature lmao

The TARDIS was playing up again. And not just a little sulk this time, but a full on temper tantrum with screaming, unresponsiveness and red flashing lights, all of which the Doctor was sure meant... _something_.  
  
Perhaps it didn't help that aforementioned Doctor was hitting her with a small mallet.  
  
"Come on!" he growled, "Where are we going, what's got you like this, eh?"  
  
The TARDIS responded with a violent jolt as she landed, sending the Time Lord sprawling across the floor and into one of many coral-themed pillars. He hopped back to his feet almost instantly, unceremoniously bashing a few keys on the console and bringing up a display of his surroundings. It was a generally unassuming corridor: metal and piping along the walls and ceiling combining with a gentle atmospheric thrumming marking it the corridor of a spaceship. It wasn't the ship itself that caught his eye, however -- no, what really surprised him was the figure fast approaching him: a young girl; familiar to him.  
  
"What?" The Doctor's face fell, conflict and surprise and sadness swimming in his eyes. He'd thought she was dead. "No, no, no, that's impossible! _What?"_  
  
_"Time Lord!"_ The Doctor span around as the girl burst into the TARDIS, barely sparing its interior a glance. She looked no more than fifteen years old; her hair fell in long, messy strands over her shoulders, and her eyes bore into him: a piercing green. She glared up at him, somehow putting age beyond her appearance into those eyes, "Get me out. _Now!"_  
  
Before he could respond, the girl gave a broken cry, and the Doctor's hearts lurched as his gaze caught sight of the collar around her neck -- a solid, shining metal pulsing with a subtle blue light. Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground as the Doctor ran to help her, only to be pushed away with a noise that was practically a hiss; her eyes dark with rage. "Fool!" she yelled, "Too late!"

"What?" The Doctor spluttered, dumbstruck by the girl's abrupt change of tone. He could get her out of that collar if she'd just let him-..  
  
"I'm a _slave,_  Doctor!," she hissed, interrupting his thoughts. "And my Master has noticed I'm gone. This will keep happening until-!" Her voice choked away as another pulse shot through the collar, convulsing as shocks coursed through her body. "O-okay!" she cried to nobody in particular, "I'm _coming!"_  
  
She sighed, getting shakily to her feet and turning to leave the room, casting one last glare at the Doctor. He followed after her, frowning deeply.  
  
_'Why here?'_ he thought, _'Why bring me here? You know I can't-..'_   He sighed, matching his pace with the girl's.  
  
"How do you know who I am?" is what he said aloud.  
  
"Oh, everybody knows, murderer," she spoke the word as if it were his name, huffing in frustration, "I've researched into you. The almighty Theta Sigma, Doctor of the Universe. Destroyer of Worlds." The girl walked quickly, striding barefoot through the narrow corridors of the ship. "I was there, you know," she continued, "During the Last Great Time War. I barely escaped before _you_ killed them all." Resentment dripped from her words, and he wondered for a moment if she even remembered him. It had been so long; so many faces since then, but she'd known it was him. He'd told her his name. She should remember.  
  
"You're not Time Lord," he tried, watching her gaze flicker at that -- as if she were hiding something. Maybe she thought _he_ wouldn't remember _her._  
  
"It doesn't matter."  
  
"What's your name?" he asked for good measure, not letting on that he already knew.  
  
The girl hesitated, eyeing him with obvious mistrust, "You can call me Vamp, if you must. And just for the record, _Murderer_ ," she added, pausing outside a pair of metal sliding doors, "I'm much older than I appear."  
  
The Doctor smiled sadly down at her, "Why are you a slave?"  
  
Vamp grimaced, "You'll find out. My Master always goes through the same routine when I try to escape."


	2. Chapter 2

On the other side of the doors lay a large, furnished room; almost like the office in a rich, early twentieth century mansion than a room in a spaceship – if not for the thrumming still beneath their feet and the piping on the ceiling. A middle aged, greying man awaited her, his face creased and his eyes a piercing blue; holding immeasurable calm swimming with the aura of falsity.

“Come here,” the man ordered grimly, like a disappointed parent about to deliver punishment, and Vamp obliged; head down, hands clasped behind her back. He grabbed the collar of her dress; a torn, filthy old thing that looked old, even in its design – Viking, perhaps.

“Insolent child!"  The yell broke through his carefully-held calm as he threw her backwards, the girl slamming hard into the wall beside the Doctor. 

"Don’t help,” she growled under her breath as The Doctor moved beside her, “He’ll only hurt me more if you help.”

She looked up just in time to be dragged to her feet again, her Master's grip painfully firm on her arm as he loomed over her.

“Three times this week,” he growled, raising his hand to her shock-collar, “I warned you what would happen if you tried to escape again.”

At his touch, the collar burst to life, sending shock after shock into Vamp's body, causing her to drop to the floor as her limbs twitched and convulsed until blood trickled from her mouth and nose. The Doctor had to force himself not to help the girl; his face screwed up with rage and disgust.

“When will your impudent little mind realise that you belong to me?” The man yelled once the screaming had stopped. He bent to where Vamp was curled up on the floor, throwing her onto her back and lifting her slightly by the collar to stare into her eyes. "You are _bound_ to me!”

“Wrong…” Vamp croaked through tears and blood, glaring steadily up to him, “I am bound to your son; as his Lifemate. No other, and certainly never _you_."


	3. Chapter 3

Without warning, the slaver lashed out, catching Vamp's cheek and sending her sprawling once more, _"You belong to me!"_

 _"I belong to no-one!"_ The scream was ripped from her throat, pained and desperately defiant as she met his glare with pure disgust. Panting, she watched quietly as he called to another slave, who had stood unnoticed but attentive in the corner of the room. 

"Bring me the boy." The slave nodded at his quiet order and scurried away, past the Doctor (who was visibly pained as he tried to resist stepping in) and out of the room. He returned shortly with a young boy, visually older than Vamp seemed -- twenty, perhaps. Wisps of brown hair framed his face, falling into deep blue eyes as he kept his head down; partially out of obedience, partially to avoid anyone's gaze. 

"Y-you wanted me, papa?" The boy's voice shook as he spoke, carrying the same Irish lilt as the slaver's, and the Doctor's hearts squeezed in his chest as he realised it wasn't just kidnapped strangers this man was keeping his slaves -- it was his own family. And judging by the practised way the teen straightened up, hands clasped behind his back to hide the shaking there as he lifted his chin to look his father in the eye, it had been that way for a painfully long time.

"Tell me, Oscar," he began, "this girl is of the Kalka'shar, no?"

"Aye, papa."

"And what do you know of the Lifemate bond the Kalka'shar hold so highly?"

Oscar swallowed heavily, eyes searching his father's as he tried to figure out where this was going, "I-it's symbiotic. A connection that allows two of their kind to feel each other's emotions and pain."

"Interesting." The Doctor grimaced at the tone of his voice, and he'd have stepped in then and there if it wasn't for the mental 'hand' Vamp was keeping on his chest, telepathically discouraging him from acting. "So if I were to do  _this,"_ he continued, flicking his wrist to set Vamp's collar off again, "a lifemate would feel the pain, no?"

The boy had tears in his eyes. From where The Doctor stood he could see his knuckles turn white as his hands, still hidden behind his back, clung tightly to each other in an attempt to stop himself crying out. Still, he seemed to get a hold of himself quite quickly, his voice almost completely steady as he muttered, "Aye, papa."

"Do you feel anything right now?"

Again, Oscar swallowed heavily, shaking his head rather than speaking.

"I said, do you feel anything?"

"N-no, papa."

Smiling in satisfaction, the man dragged Vamp to her feet again as the collar finished its work, one hand grasping her chin to force the girl to look at him, "My boy feels nothing for you. He never has, and he never will. I suggest you rethink these delusions of yours before they get someone seriously hurt."

Vamp's gaze was something between hurt and accusing as she met Oscar's gaze, and the boy sucked in a breath, looking away quickly as fresh tears welled up just as soon as he'd been able to swallow them back. He didn't look at her even as she was thrown back down again, but his expression grew tighter; his self-control strained to its limits as she lifted her head, still defiant, at Oscar this time. He knew what was coming, and so did The Doctor -- but a forceful shout from Vamp in his head stopped him again before he could step in.

"You can deny it all you want, but it's there. N-no matter how much you bend under your father's thumb, or how much I _hate you_ , it will always be there."

"Is that so?" Oscar's father responded for him, still smirking, as he reached into his pocket and handed his son a knife. "Kill her. Slowly. Show her just how real this _bond_  truly is."

Oscar couldn't afford to hesitate. He stepped forward, pulling Vamp to her knees and holding her there. Her gaze remained defiant and accusing even as he plunged the knife into the right of her chest, where The Doctor knew her second heart was (Kalka'shar -- another two-hearted race). He twisted once, twice, tears visible in his eyes as Vamp choked and whimpered; fighting not to cry out. Oscar pulled out the blade, then, wincing slightly at the blood that poured from her wound and stained the already-ruined dress she wore, but otherwise his expression was blank as he repeated the action with her left heart, letting her fall to the ground. He turned, then, to his father; obediently returning the knife to him and clasping his hands behind his back again -- this time The Doctor could see his nails digging into the back of his hand in the effort to keep himself calm.

"Take her away." That was all. Not even shallow praise. Just a disinterested order which Oscar followed promptly. Back turned to his father, there were tears streaking his face as he passed the Doctor, carrying Vamp's body with him.


	4. Chapter 4

"Right, now to business." Barely sparing his son a glance as he left, the slaver turned then to the Doctor; eyeing him expectantly. "Enjoying the show? 

The Doctor said nothing, rage burning in dark eyes as he glared at the man.

"Why so solemn?" The smile on his face fell to a slightly apprehensive smirk, still force-polite but lacking in enthusiasm. "You're here to hire my son, no? Why else would the girl bring you to me?"

"Who are you?" was all The Doctor growled, and the slaver's lips pulled into a sneer.

"I could ask you the same thing," he said, casting an indignant glance over the other man's frame. "I am Zerral Brown, and you're standing on my cargo ship. If you're not here to hire my services, why are you here?"

"Well until now, _Zerral,_ I wasn't sure." If it were even possible, his gaze darkened further, the age and power and experience shining through deep brown in such a way that even Zerral looked as if he wanted to back away. "But now I'm here to stop you."

"Oh?" There was the amusement again, back as soon as it had left. "This is a neutral, unoccupied sector of the galaxy -- nothing can reach me here. Not the Preservation of Sol, not the Shadow Proclamation,  _nobody._ Just who d'you think you are to be making claims like that?"

The corner of his lip twitched, and if Zerral didn't know better he'd say he saw a spark of  _excitement_ in his gaze for a moment -- like he'd been anticipating the moment that question was asked. _"I'm The Doctor."_

The shift in mood was instantaneous. Amusement turned to confusion turned to  _glee._ The Doctor could practically see the puzzle pieces falling together in Zerral's mind, and for a moment he wondered if it was a mistake giving him his name so soon. There was certainly recognition in the slaver's eyes as he cast them over the Time Lord; recognition and something altogether more greedy. "Of course you are," he hummed, turning calmly to flick a few switches on a panel at his desk. "In that case, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to stay with us a while. There are some...  _formalities_ that need taking care of."

"Formalities?" The Doctor scoffed, the hardness in his stance broken seemingly in an instant as he rolled his eyes, shoving his hands in his pockets, "Never mind the formalities; can't  _stand_ formalities. I'm more interested in what you just did with your wall of switches. Love a wall of switches. Not so much formalities, did I mention that?"

The slaver was unamused, offering only a slight hum in acknowledgement, "You arrived in your timeship, no? My systems will automatically detect the breach and deadlock that corridor. You see, Doctor, I have a particular business in rare and endangered species. I have the last of the Kalka'shar. Despite her... insubordination, people pay good money to see and hire her. Think of where the _last of the Time Lords_  and his TARDIS will get me. I'm afraid you're trapped here."

"I've never been good at settling down." The Doctor was still calm, quiet and amused, but there was a swirling hatred so carefully veiled that Zerral could almost  _feel._ "Don't think I'll start. Thanks for the offer though! I love a good ship. Already got one, though," he continued, slipping a hand into his inside pocket to pull something out, "so I'd love it if you could just-"

"Don't bother," Zerral hummed, eyeing the sonic screwdriver just a second before he'd made to point it at the slaver's controls. "They're deadlocked too. I've been waiting a long time for you, Time Lord. Please, be my guest, have a look around the place."

"What, that's it?" The Doctor scrunched up his face, somewhere between mock-disbelieving and unimpressed, "Not gonna collar me up? Just gonna let me go? Are you sure that's wise?"

He was taunting him, and Zerral knew it. Still, he shrugged, "Any possible escape for you is deadlocked, Doctor. Why would I need to trap you further? Roam a while; make yourself at home -- you're going to be here for the long haul, I'm afraid."


	5. Chapter 5

"He let you stay without a collar?" 

It hadn't taken The Doctor long to find his way to Oscar and Vamp; he just had to follow the hushed whispers and soft crying to an empty infirmary, where a small group of slaves were huddled around a bed. The place looked like it was only used for this purpose -- holding people until they woke from death. There was hardly any equipment and most of it looked ancient or broken, but Oscar was doing his best with what he had; something, The Doctor noted with a grim frown, he'd probably had to do for a long time. 

"Well, look at me!" he hummed, forcing a smile for the woman who'd asked him. At least this one was an adult; most of the people here were  _children._ "I'm too handsome for a collar~"

Most of the other slaves ignored him, all focused on Oscar's frantic efforts to take care of Vamp's body, but the woman tilted her head, frowning in a way that made the antennae at her temples twitch and sway. "He  _never_ lets people stay without a collar."

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Another slave finally spoke up, this one quite literally pink-skinned with eyes that resembled glow in the dark stars, "He's working for the master. An accomplice."

"He isn't." Before the Doctor could say a word to defend himself Oscar had spoken up; a grim, quiet edge to his voice that hadn't been there with his father. "Dad's scared of him."

A whisper passed through the small crowd; some shocked, some disbelieving.  _The master isn't scared of anything,_ they said,  _why would he be scared of this stranger?_

"Because he's The Doctor," Oscar muttered, earning another whisper. Around him, a couple of slaves shuffled away from the man in question, eyeing him with newfound awe and fear. "And whether you believe the stories or no, you'd be damn stupid to ignore them."

Again, the Doctor opened his mouth to respond -- only to be cut off by another wave of whispers; this time directed at Vamp's body. She was no longer motionless, fingertips twitching just slightly as a shudder ran through her body and her lips softly parted; expelling a few wisps of what looked like dull, multicoloured smoke which rose and dissipated into the air. Oscar stepped back, making sure the other slaves gathered did so too, as the wounds marring her chest began to pull closed and more wisps of smoke escaped her. A silence fell that stretched for far too long; only to be broken by the softest shudder of a gasp as it dragged its way into her lungs and forced her eyes blearily open. 

"Welcome back." The greeting was concerned, but dull. Oscar's tone was missing-.. well, _anything._ Now he thought about it, even when his emotions slipped, The Doctor wasn't sure he'd seen the boy show much more than tired defeat. Everything about him was muted-- and he could tell part of it was deliberate. How long had he been trapped here, to have perfected that even when his father wasn't around? The thought sent a chill down his spine and a new wave of determination to his chest. He had to stop this, one way or another. 

"Don't talk to me." The response Oscar got was dryer still, but this was genuine. Vamp barely even glanced at him, choking a little as she tried to push herself up on her own. Oscar almost moved to help her -- but practically jumped backwards as The Doctor did the same; gently guiding her to sit. "Excellent. A murderer and an absolute  _arse_ on either side of me. Anything else the Universe wants to throw at my face?"

"Just-.." The Doctor sighed as she wobbled to her feet, still poised to catch her but rolling his eyes in defeat, "Just take it easy."

"No time," she breathed, making some effort to straighten herself up despite the stake in her legs, "things to do."

"She's right," Oscar hummed, offering the Time Lord a semi-apologetic glance as they made their way out; the group of gathered slaves in tow. "There's too many people on this ship, and we have to look after each other. We worry about one for too long, someone else dies." 

 _"Oscar!"_ Just as he'd spoken, another voice carried from the upcoming corridor, accompanied shortly by a slightly out of breath young boy with wide, bright pink eyes. "Cohen touched Llana and now Neri's gonna fight him!"

Shooting The Doctor a ' _see what I mean?'_ glance, Oscar heaved a sigh and ran ahead, following after the kid to disappear into another room. 


End file.
